Packet prioritization for network-based software-defined radio

ABSTRACT

Disclosed in some examples are systems, methods, devices, and machine-readable mediums for improved communications between a software-defined radio front-end device and a network-based computing device. Rather than packetize samples together, same bit positions from multiple ADC samples may be packetized together. If a Quality of Service (QoS) metric of the network connection between the RF front-end device and the network-based processing computing drops below a threshold, the RF front-end device may prioritize sending packets with the more significant bits over packets with less significant bits. In other examples, the RF front-end device may prioritize samples corresponding to certain data types over other data types.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of prior application Ser. No.16/953,170, filed on Nov. 19, 2020, which is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments pertain to software-defined radios. Some embodiments relateto network-based software-defined radios.

BACKGROUND

A software-defined radio (SDR) is a device that sends and receives datausing radio frequency communications in which many of the componentstypically implemented by dedicated hardware such as mixers, filters,amplifiers, modulators/demodulators, and detectors are implemented bygeneral purpose computing devices such as a desktop computer or anembedded system. In the SDR, a radio frequency (RF) front-end receives aradio signal and passes the signal in an analog form to ananalog-to-digital converter (ADC) which samples the radio signal toproduce a digital representation of the signal. Depending on theconfiguration of the SDR, the RF front-end may include one or moreantennae, variable-frequency oscillators, mixers, filters, low-noiseamplifiers, and/or bandpass filters. A digital processing component,which may be implemented on general purpose computing hardware throughsoftware instructions, may then finish processing the signal by performoperations such as mixing, filtering, amplifying, demodulating, andperforming other operations to retrieve the transmitted data stream. Totransmit data, a reverse process is employed in which the input datastream is processed by the digital processing component, sent to thefront-end component for conversion to an analog signal (e.g., by adigital-to-analog converter (DAC)) and transmitted.

SDRs allow increased flexibility by replacing components traditionallyimplemented in dedicated hardware with software. By changing thesoftware, the capabilities of the SDR may be adapted using the samehardware. For example, by modifying the software, the SDR can be adaptedto receive and transmit different radio protocols which allows SDRs tobe more flexible and to adapt to changing conditions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. Like numerals havingdifferent letter suffixes may represent different instances of similarcomponents. The drawings illustrate generally, by way of example, butnot by way of limitation, various embodiments discussed in the presentdocument.

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram of an SDR system according to some examplesof the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a diagram of a network-based SDR system according tosome examples of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates a diagram of a centralized network-based SDR systemaccording to some examples of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates a diagram of an edge-network-computing based SDRsystem according to some examples of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example diagram of a packet construction accordingto some examples of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates a diagram of network congestion management in anetwork-based SDR system according to some examples of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates a diagram of a feedback indication sent from anetwork-based digital processing computing device or the transceiver todetermine the priority of one or more samples output from the ADCaccording to some examples of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow chart of a method of packetizing samplesoutput by an ADC of an SDR according to some examples of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart of a method of prioritizing delivery ofpackets according to some examples of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of a method of a radio RF front-enddevice prioritizing packets that include ADC samples representingcertain data types according to some examples of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 illustrates a flowchart of a method of a digital processingcomputing device providing feedback on data types of samples accordingto some examples of the present disclosure.

FIG. 12 illustrates a flowchart of a method of a transmitting deviceproviding feedback on data types of samples according to some examplesof the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a machine uponwhich one or more embodiments described herein may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In traditional SDRs, the computing device that executes the digitalprocessing component to process the output of the ADC, termed herein asa digital processing computing device, is typically connected to the ADCand the RF front-end device through a local connection. In thetraditional SDR model, each SDR needs a local computing device. In someexamples, in order to take advantage of the increased computing power,availability, centralized maintenance, and cost savings of network-basedcomputing devices (sometimes referred to as cloud computing),network-based SDRs packetize the output of the ADC send it over anetwork to a centralized server. The centralized server then implementsthe digital processing component for one or more RF front-end devices onnetwork-based computing devices.

Rather than sending data to a centralized server, a network-based SDRsystem may be further modified to take advantage of edge computingconcepts where computing resources closer to the RF front-end devicesare used to implement the digital processing component. Because thedigital processing component is provided by edge computing resourcesthat are closer to the RF front-end devices (as compared withcentralized network-based computing devices), latency is decreased andthe chances of network congestion diminish because the data willtypically have to traverse fewer network links. The edge computingresources may then pass the data to other computing resources, such as acommunication server or the like.

In traditional network-based software-defined radio implementations(either the traditional centralized cloud concepts or the edge computingconcepts), the stream of samples output by the ADC is packetized as itis sampled and sent to the digital processing component. For example, ifthe packet size is 32 bits and each sample is 8 bits, then fourconsecutive samples are packetized and sent. If a packet is lost, thenfour consecutive samples are lost. This may cause issues, especially ifthe data that is lost is signaling data, or other data that is sensitiveto loss (such as audio data).

Disclosed in some examples are systems, methods, devices, andmachine-readable mediums for improved communications between asoftware-defined radio front-end device and a network-based computingdevice. Rather than packetize samples together, same bit positions frommultiple ADC samples may be packetized together. For example, the mostsignificant bits of a group of ADC samples may be packetized together,the second most significant bits of the group may be packetizedtogether, and so on. If a Quality of Service (QoS) metric of the networkconnection between the RF front-end device and the network-basedprocessing computing drops below a threshold, the RF front-end devicemay prioritize sending packets with the more significant bits overpackets with less significant bits. By packetizing the samples in thismanner, some precision in the output of the ADC may be lost if packetscontaining bits of lesser significance are lost, however, this methodensures that at least some estimation of the signal is possible. This isin contrast with the current methods of packetization which result insample loss for at least a period of time.

This solves a technical problem of data loss due to network problems innetwork-based SDRs by the technical solution of prioritizing certainpackets based upon the significance of the bit values in the packet.Packets having lesser significant bits can be discarded or delayed infavor of packets carrying higher significant bits. While some precisionis lost, whole samples are not lost, and the processing components maybe able to reconstruct the missing bits for example using errorcorrection codes. In this manner, the system essentially rounds thevalue of the samples.

Since the RF front-end device has no advanced knowledge of the contentsof the signal (as it has not been processed yet), using traditionalSDRs, there is no way to prioritize certain types data over other typesof data. For example, signaling and control data may be more importantthan other types of data. Similarly, for certain applications, some datamay be more important than other types of data. For example, in areal-time communications application, audio data may be more importantthan video or screen sharing data. In the face of network issues, itwould improve performance to prioritize packets including ADC samplescorresponding to the most important types of data over other packetsthat have samples corresponding to less important data types.

Also disclosed are techniques which provide to the RF front-end deviceknowledge of what data types are represented by the signal processed bythe ADC to determine the importance of the data and to prioritizepackets containing those samples accordingly. The samples may beprioritized using a prioritization scheme which specifies one or moredata types and a priority of each data type. The prioritization schememay be specific to a radio protocol, an upper layer protocol, a end-userdevice, an application, or the like. For example, samples representingsignaling data may be prioritized over all other data. Samplesrepresenting data for certain media types may be prioritized over othermedia types. For example, if the radio transmission is transmittingmedia for a network-based communication session (e.g., the applicationis an online meeting), then samples encoding audio data may beprioritized over samples encoding video data. Audio data is much moresensitive in terms of user experience to discontinuities brought on bynetwork noise than video data. Prioritization of samples based upon datatype is normally not done at the RF front-end device because the RFfront-end device is not typically aware of the payload of the signal andtherefore does not know which samples encode which data.

The RF front-end device may determine the payload in a number of ways.For example, the processing computing device may signal the RF front-enddevice to inform the RF front-end device of the media type being sent.Similarly, the device transmitting the data received at the RF front-enddevice (referred to herein as the transmitter) may signal the RFfront-end device of the media type being sent—either in-band (e.g., aspart of the RF transmission), or out of band (e.g., through anothernetwork connection).

Examples in which packets are prioritized based upon the data type maybe applied in addition to, or instead of, the techniques previouslydescribed that packetize most significant bits of a group of samplestogether, the second most significant bits of a group of samplestogether, and so on. For example, the samples may be first grouped basedupon data type that they encode and second, the sample groups may beseparately packetized such that the most significant bits of each groupare packetized together and so on. Various prioritization schemes maythen select which packets are prioritized. For example, packets encodingthe most significant bits of signaling data may be prioritized overlesser significant bits of signaling data. The lesser significant bitsof signaling data may be prioritized over the most significant bits ofaudio data. The lesser significant bits of the audio data may beprioritized over the most significant bits of video data, which may beprioritized over the lesser significant bits of video data, and so on.

This solves a technical problem of data loss due to network problems innetwork based SDRs by the technical solution of implementing feedbackfrom the processing component executing on the processing computingdevice or transmitter to allow the RF front-end device to make informeddecisions on prioritizing data. This improves system performance wherenetwork issues may be occurring between the RF front-end device and thedigital processing computing device by prioritizing important datanecessary to maintain a connection or to maintain an acceptable userexperience. Packets having more important contents may be prioritizedover packets with less important contents. This ensures that sessionsstay connected (e.g., both application layer connections and lower levelconnections) and that the most important media is delivered withoutdelay at the expense of less important media.

Turning now to FIG. 1 , a diagram of an SDR system 100 is shownaccording to some examples of the present disclosure. RF front-enddevice 105 may include one or more antennas 107, Radio Frequency (RF)hardware 110, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 115, and a digital toanalog converter (DAC) 120. The RF hardware 110 may include a number ofcomponents depending on the configuration. Example configurations mayinclude a heterodyne, zero-IF, digital low-IF, bandpass sampling, anddirect RF sampling configuration. For example, for a digital IFheterodyne structure, the RF hardware 110 may include a first RFbandpass filter (BPF), a low noise amplifier, a second BPF, a mixer, anIF BPF, and an IF amplifier. In a direct conversion/zero IF structurethe RF hardware 110 may include an RF BPF, a Low Noise Amplifier, the RFsignal is then converted directly into zero frequency (DC) by an I/Qdemodulator, Low Pass Filters for the I and the Q channels, and one ormore variable gain amplifiers.

The ADC 115 converts an analog signal to a digital signal throughsampling at periodic time intervals set by an ADC clock. The samples maybe, in some examples, samples of the amplitude of the RF signal. Theoutput of the ADC 115 is a digital representation of the analog signal.Digital processing component 125 executing on a digital processingcomputing device 127 (such as a personal computer) may process thedigital representation of the analog signal such as by performingbaseband processing. Information to be transmitted is converted from adigital signal into an analog signal by the DAC 120 which is thentransmitted by the RF hardware 110 and antenna 107. In some examples,the digital processing computing device 127 may be in the form of apersonal computing device, server computing device, or other generalpurpose computing device.

FIG. 2 illustrates a diagram of a network-based SDR system 200 accordingto some examples of the present disclosure. RF front-end device 205includes one or more antenna(s) 207 (which may be a same component orsimilar component as antenna 107), a RF hardware 210 (which may be asame component or similar component as RF hardware 110), an ADC 215(which may be a same component or similar component as ADC 215), a DAC220 (which may be a same component or similar component as DAC 120).Additionally, the RF front-end device 205 may have a packet interface222. Packet interface takes the signal samples produced by the ADC 215,packetizes it, and sends it over network 230 to the digital processingcomputing device 235 (which may be a general purpose computing devicesuch as a server computer) that executes the network-based digitalprocessing component 225 (which may be a same component or similarcomponent as digital processing component 125 of FIG. 1 ). In additionto the functions described for digital processing component 125,network-based digital processing component 225 may also include a packetinterface 227 that depacketizes the digital samples before furtherprocessing.

Packet interface 222 and packet interface 227 may also implement one ormore protocols, such as a Transport Control Protocol (TCP), InternetProtocol (IP), or the like. Network 230 is any type of datacommunication network, including packet-based networks such as theInternet. Packet interface 222 may be implemented by software executingon a processing device of RF front-end device 205 or may be implementedby an integrated circuit with hardware logic or a combination ofsoftware and hardware logic.

FIG. 3 illustrates a diagram of a centralized network-based SDR system300 according to some examples of the present disclosure. Transceivers310, 312, and 314 transmit and receive radio signals with RF front-enddevices 316, 318, and 320 respectively. Transceivers 310, 312, and 314may be traditional radio transmission and reception devices that relyupon traditional specially designed hardware such as cellphones, or oneor more of the transceivers 310, 312, and 314 may be an SDR (including anetwork-based SDR). RF front-end devices 316, 318, and 320 may be anexample of RF front-end device 205 which may packetize the output of theADC and send it to a centralized network-based digital processingcomputing device 325. Centralized network-based digital processingcomputing device 325 may be an example of digital processing computingdevice 235 of FIG. 2 .

FIG. 4 illustrates a diagram of an edge-network-computing based SDRsystem 400 according to some examples of the present disclosure. In FIG.4 , the transceivers shown in FIG. 3 (transceivers 310, 312, and 314)are not shown for increased clarity. RF front-end devices 410 and 412may packetize data from their ADC devices and send them to network-baseddigital processing computing device 420. RF front-end devices 414 and416 may packetize data from their ADC devices and send them tonetwork-based digital processing computing device 422. RF front-enddevice 418 may packetize data from its ADC device and send the data tonetwork-based digital processing computing device 424. Network-baseddigital processing computing devices 420, 422, and 424 may communicatewith other network-based digital processing computing devices or with aserver computing device 426. For example, some processing of the ADCsamples may be done on one of the network-based digital processingcomputing devices 420, 422, and 424 with the rest of the processing doneon another one of the network-based digital processing computing devices420, 422, and 424 or server computing device 426.

In other examples, the network-based digital processing computing device420, 422, or 424 may communicate with another one of network-baseddigital processing computing devices 420, 422, or 424 to forward datadestined for one of the RF front-end devices 410, 412, 414, 416, and418. For example, data received at RF front-end device 410 may bedestined for a receiver that receives data sent by RF front-end device414. In this example, the ADC output is packetized and sent from RFfront-end device 410, processed by network-based digital processingcomputing device 420, and sent to network-based digital processingcomputing device 422, and then transmitted by RF front-end device 414.

In some examples, the various network-based digital processing computingdevices 420, 422, and/or 424 may be located such that they aregeographically close to the RF front-end device that they serve toreduce latency.

Turning now to FIG. 5 , an example diagram of a packet construction 500is shown according to some examples of the present disclosure. Areceived analog waveform 505 is plotted. The plot of FIG. 5 illustratesan example amplitude sampling of the waveform as samples 510 {001, 010,011, 010, 000, 111, 110, 101, 110, 111}. One of ordinary skill in theart with the benefit of the present disclosure will appreciate thatother forms of sampling may be used and that the output shown in FIG. 5and discussed herein is exemplary and used for purposes of illustratingthe packetization of the samples.

In the example of FIG. 5 , the ADC samples the analog waveform 505 andproduces ten samples 510. Samples 510 are each three bits in length.Samples 510 are then rearranged into packets 512, 514, and 516. The mostsignificant bits of each sample are assigned to packet 512, the middlebit of each sample is assigned to packet 514, and the least significantbit is assigned to packet 516. The ordering of the bits in the packetsmay correspond to the ordering of the samples output by the ADC. Inother examples, the bits may be ordered in a different ordering. Whilein FIG. 5 , each bit of a sample is packetized in a separate packet, inother examples, multiple bits of a sample may be sent in a singlepacket. For example, the most significant and middle bits may beincluded in a same packet.

Turning now to FIG. 6 , a diagram of network congestion management in anetwork-based SDR system 600 is shown according to some examples of thepresent disclosure. RF front-end device 610 receives a radio signal andan ADC converts it to digital samples. The RF front-end device 610 maybe an example of RF front-end device 205 of FIG. 2 . In addition, the RFfront-end device 610 may determine Quality of Service (QoS) information608 of the network 617 that is used to send the packetized samples tothe network-based digital processing computing device 616. Network-baseddigital processing computing device 616 may be an example ofnetwork-based digital processing computing device 225 of FIG. 2 . System600 may be either a centralized or edge computing model as shown in FIG.3 or 4 . The RF front-end device 610 packetizes the samples according tothe method described herein and shown in FIG. 5 .

In the example of FIG. 6 , the QoS information indicates that a QoSmetric of the network meets a prespecified criteria. For example, thebandwidth is below a threshold bandwidth amount; the quality is lessthan a threshold quality; a packet loss measurement is above athreshold; or the like. In response, the RF front-end device 610 maytake one or more actions. For example, the RF front-end device 610 mayset one or more QoS fields of the packets 612, 614, or 615 such that thefirst packet 612 has the highest priority, the second packet 614 has thesecond highest priority and the third packet 615 has the lowestpriority. Devices in the network 617 may then handle the packetsaccording to the QoS parameters. In other examples, the RF front-enddevice 610 may drop one or more of the lower priority packets (e.g., thethird packet). As shown, the third packet 615 is dropped and the firstand second packets 612 and 614 are thus received by the digitalprocessing computing device 616. This produces the samples 618, whichare shown graphed 619 next to the original waveform. While thereconstructed waveform is not a perfect match, it more closelyapproximates a correct waveform than a reconstructed waveform that ismissing samples completely.

FIG. 7 shows a diagram of a feedback indication sent from anetwork-based digital processing computing device or the transceiver todetermine the priority of one or more samples output from the ADCaccording to some examples of the present disclosure. In example 700,the network-based digital processing computing device 715 (which may bean example of network-based digital processing computing device 225 fromFIG. 2 ) may process the packetized samples received from the RFfront-end device 710 (which may be an example of RF front-end device 205from FIG. 2 ). The samples may be decoded, and the type of data that thesamples correspond to may be determined. The type of data may be sentback to the RF front-end device 710 using feedback messaging 720.

In example 730, the digital processing computing device 745 may notprovide feedback. In these examples, the transceiver 735 transmitsfeedback messaging 750 along with the data 748 to the RF front-enddevice 740. Feedback in feedback messaging 750 describes or indicates atype of the data 748. The feedback messaging 750 may be transmitted aspart of the data 748, such as metadata, or may be transmittedseparately. For examples in which the feedback messaging 750 istransmitted as part of the data 748, the feedback messaging 750 may besent as an easily recognizable symbol pattern to the RF front-end device740. The RF front-end device 740 may recognize the pattern and decode itto determine the data type of data that follows. In other examples, aside-band or second radio link or channel may be used to send thefeedback messaging 750.

In still other examples, the feedback messaging 750 may be sent throughan out-of-band connection, such as through a second radio-frequencyconnection using a different wireless protocol than that used to sendthe data 748. For example, through a WiFi connection of the transceiver735 to a wireless access point (not shown in FIG. 7 ) and through anetwork to the RF front-end device 740. Since the feedback data infeedback messaging 750 may be substantially smaller in size than themedia being transmitted over the radio link between the transceiver 735and the RF front-end device 740, this may be used where the WiFiconnection has a lower bandwidth. Other connections include other wired,and/or wireless connections that are either direct connections orthrough one or more intermediary devices.

The feedback data in feedback messaging 720,750 may be an indication ofthe type of data currently being sent; a timestamp of when a particulartype of data will begin, signal pattern information that can be used bythe RF front-end devices 710,740 to find data of a certain type, or thelike. For example, packets may be sent by the transceiver 735 using aparticular structure such that signaling, and other information may besent in a header first and then the payload may be sent afterwards. Insome examples, the headers may be carry signaling information and may beprioritized by the RF front-end devices 710, 740 over the payload datawhich may have less important media types.

As previously described, the system of FIG. 7 may work in conjunctionwith the packetization system described with respect to FIG. 5 . Forexample, samples corresponding to different media data types may beaggregated together and the process of FIG. 5 may be applied to thosegroups. In some examples where the media types may be interspersedthroughout the received analog signal, the RF front-end device maytransmit reconstruction information (e.g., information on which orderthe samples were created—such as a sequence number) to the digitalprocessing computing device to help the digital processing computingdevice reconstruct the samples in a proper order.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow chart of a method 800 of packetizing samplesoutput by an ADC of an SDR according to some examples of the presentdisclosure. At operation 810, a computing device (e.g., a processor) ofa RF front-end device receives output of an ADC. The output may be aplurality of digital samples of a RF signal received by the RF front-enddevice. Each digital sample may be a numerical representation of an RFsignal at a particular time and comprises a plurality of bits, includinga most significant bit and a second bit that is less significant thanthe most significant bit. In some examples, the method 800 is applied toa plurality of samples. The number of samples may be selected based uponthe number of bits per sample that is packetized in a same packet andthe packet size. For example, if the packet size is thirty-two bits, thenumber of bits per sample placed in a same packet is two, then thenumber of samples processed in the method 800 may be 16.

At operation 820 a first packet may be created using a most significantbit of a first sample and a most significant bit (MSB) of a secondsample. Depending on the number of samples processed and the packetsize, additional most significant bits of additional samples may also beincluded. As already noted, additional bits of each sample may also beincluded in the first packet.

At operation 830, a second packet may be created using a second bit ofthe first sample and a second bit of the second sample. Depending on thenumber of samples processed and the packet size, additional bits ofadditional samples may also be included that were not placed in thefirst packet. As already noted, additional bits of each sample may alsobe included in the first packet. In some examples, one or more bits maybe duplicated across packets. That is, a first bit of a sample may bepacketized in multiple packets to add additional redundancy to ensurethose bits arrive at the digital processing computing device.

At operation 835, the RF front-end device may prioritize delivery of thefirst packet over the second packet. In some examples, this may beaccomplished by setting a QoS parameter in the first packet such thatthe first packet is prioritized by the network over the second packet.In some examples, this be accomplished by dropping (not sending) thesecond packet and sending only the first packet if network conditionsmeet certain QoS criteria. In some examples, both the QoS parameters maybe set and the second packet may be dropped. In still other examples,other actions may be taken in addition to, or instead of droppingpackets and/or setting QoS criteria. For example, sending the firstpacket twice but the first packet only once. Where packets are not sentby the RF front-end device, in some examples, the RF front-end devicesends indicators to inform the digital processing computing device thatbits from samples are missing. This prevents the digital processingcomputing device from waiting for the missing data and reduces latency.In some examples, the indicators are sent along with packets that aresent; in still other examples, packets are sent to the digitalprocessing computing device containing the indicators. These indicatorsmay be small compared to the packets that are not sent, so theseindicators may not be affected by or effect network congestion in thesame manner.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart of a method 900 of prioritizing deliveryof packets according to some examples of the present disclosure. Method900 may be an example of operation 835. At operation 940, a metric of anetwork connection between the RF front-end device computing device anda server computing device may be determined. The server computing devicemay be a network-based digital processing computing device. The metricmay be a QoS metric such as a bandwidth metric, a packet latency metric,a packet loss metric, a packet error metric, a packet quality metric, orthe like. The QoS metrics may be determined based upon previously sentpackets, test packets, polling packets, or the like.

At operation 950, the RF front-end device may determine whether themetric indicates a QoS issue. For example, by comparing the metric to athreshold (e.g., the metric exceeds a threshold, is below a threshold,or the like). If the metric indicates a QoS issue, then at operation955, the first packet is sent, but the second packet is not sent. If themetric does not indicate a QoS issue, then at operation 950, bothpackets are sent. When packets containing bits of samples of the ADC arenot sent or are lost by the network, the digital processing computingdevice may substitute one or more bits. For example, all lost bits maybe assigned to be zero bits, one bits, or the like.

Turning now to FIG. 10 , a flowchart of a method 1000 of a radio RFfront-end device prioritizing packets that include ADC samplesrepresenting certain data types is shown according to some examples ofthe present disclosure. At operation 1010 the radio RF front-end devicemay receive feedback identifying data types of one or more of thesamples. As noted the feedback may be an indication of a currentlyreceived or transmitted data type (such as control data, voice data,video data, or the like); may be a pattern of received or transmitteddata (e.g., every third sample is video data); or the like. The feedbackmay be received from either the digital processing computing device orthe transmitter. The feedback may be received from metadata in the radiosignal, a second radio signal, or from an out-of-band networkconnection.

At operation 1020, the RF front-end device correlates the samples fromthe ADC to data types using the feedback. For example, if the feedbackis a pattern, the samples corresponding to each data type may beidentified. If the feedback is an indication of the currently receiveddata type, then the current samples are correlated to that data type.

At operation 1030, the radio RF front-end device prioritizes samplesaccording to the correlated data type according to a prioritizationscheme by prioritizing packets including those samples. An exampleprioritization scheme may include prioritizing samples representingsignaling or control data highest, prioritizing samples representingaudio next, prioritizing samples representing video next, and finallysamples representing other data (such as chat communications, files, orother data) may be prioritized lowest. One of ordinary skill in the artwith the benefit of the present disclosure will appreciate that otherprioritization schemes may be used. Samples may be prioritized bysetting a QoS parameter in the packet. Computing devices such as routerson a network path between the radio RF front-end device and thenetwork-based digital processing computing device 225 may use this QoSinformation to determine priorities for packets in queueing, guaranteeddelivery, and other parameters. QoS parameters may signify differenttreatment for different packets.

In other examples, rather than, or in addition to the QoS parameters,the radio RF front-end device may determine that a QoS metric of thenetwork indicates a QoS issue. For example, as discussed in FIG. 9 . Inresponse to determining that the QoS metric indicates a QoS issue, theradio RF front-end device may send high priority packets first and, insome examples, may not send lower priority packets.

As noted herein, the disclosure discussed dropping packets in responseto network QoS issues. One of ordinary skill in the art with the benefitof the present disclosure will appreciate that other responses may beused instead of, or in addition to discarding packets. For example,lower priority packets may be queued for a short time. If the networkQoS issues are resolved or if it becomes possible to send the queuedpackets without impacting the higher priority packets, these queuedpackets may be sent. For example, if the QoS measurement is a bandwidthmeasurement and if at time t the bandwidth is not large enough to sendall the packets awaiting transmission, then the RF front-end device mayqueue lower priority packets while sending higher priority packets. Ifat time t+1 the bandwidth increases, or the amount of high prioritypackets to be sent does not utilize all the available bandwidth (e.g.,the transmitter lowered their transmission rate), the queued packets maybe sent.

Turning now to FIG. 11 , a flowchart of a method 1100 of a digitalprocessing computing device providing feedback on data types of samplesis shown according to some examples of the present disclosure. Atoperation 1110, the digital processing computing device may receivepackets that include ADC samples of a radio signal. The packets may beordered based upon a packet number or some other data within the packet.At operation 1120 the packets may be ordered according to the orderingspecified and used to reconstruct the received signal. The signal maythen be processed, for example, by base band processing algorithms,error correction, encryption, modulation, demodulation, channelization,encoding, and other operations.

At operation 1130, the feedback for the RF front-end device may bedetermined. For example, the data type may be identified and acorrelation between the samples and the data type may be determined. Insome examples, where one data type is sent at a time, the data typedetermined may be provided as feedback. In other examples, wheredifferent data types or interspersed together, a pattern may bedetermined that may determine what data type correlates to specific datatypes.

For example, one or more machine-learning algorithms may be created thatemploy either supervised or unsupervised learning. Example algorithmsmay include sequence labeling methods such as Conditional Random Fields,Hidden Markov Models, Maximum Entropy Markov Models, Recurrent NeuralNetworks, and the like that identify sequences in the samples todetermine a data type being received. In some examples, rather than thedigital processing computing device using the model, the model may becreated by the digital processing computing device and sent to the radioRF front-end device. The radio RF front-end device then applies themodel to determine data types corresponding to the samples using thesequence labeling methods. This may allow the radio RF front-end deviceto prioritize packets without receiving periodic feedback from thedigital processing computing device or the transmitter, aside fromreceiving the model and any updates to the model.

At operation 1140, the feedback may be sent to the RF front-end device.As noted, the feedback may be a pattern that is applied by the RFfront-end device. For example, samples 1-9 corresponds to controlinformation, then samples 10-20 correspond to audio data, then samples21-32 correspond to more control information, followed by samples 33-64correspond to video data. The RF front-end device may use this patterninformation to categorize samples and to prioritize important portionsof the signal. In other examples, the feedback may simply be anindication of a currently received data type.

Turning now to FIG. 12 , a flowchart of a method 1200 of a transmittingdevice providing feedback on data types of samples is shown according tosome examples of the present disclosure. The transmitting devicetransmits data to the RF front-end device over one or more radio links.As noted, the transmitting device may be a base station, a WiFi accesspoint, another software defined radio, or the like. The device is notedas a transmitter, but can also be a transceiver.

At operation 1210 the transmitter may prepare data for transmission. Thedata may be data received from another device, or may be data receivedfrom one or more applications executing on the transmitter. At operation1220, the data types of the data may be determined and correlated tospecific transmission times. At operation 1230, the feedback may be sentto the RF front-end device. The feedback may be the data types andtransmission time correlations that may be used by the RF front-enddevice to determine which samples correlate to which data types. Thefeedback data may be sent using one or more radio links or channels, anout of band connection, or the like.

While the disclosure herein has described the RF front-end device makingdecisions to drop packets with lower-priority samples (e.g., sampleswith lesser significant bits), in other examples, the packets may belabelled as to the significance of the bits and other network nodes(e.g., routers) may drop or slow packets with lesser significant bits.For example, a router may determine that two packets in a queue werefrom a same RF front end and that a first packet has more significantbits than a second packet (e.g., the packets may be labelled). Therouter may treat the first packet with a higher priority than the secondpacket. For example, the router may transmit the first packet to a nexthop towards the destination but not transmit the second packet.

Furthermore, as described, the digital processing computing device mayfill in missing bits from the samples with either zeros or ones. In yetother examples, the digital processing computing device may performinterpolation of samples to minimize a mean square error. Interpolationmay be achieved by passing the bits through a digital low pass filter.

FIG. 13 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine 1300 uponwhich any one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies) discussedherein may perform. In alternative embodiments, the machine 1300 mayoperate as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) toother machines. In a networked deployment, the machine 1300 may operatein the capacity of a server machine, a client machine, or both inserver-client network environments. In an example, the machine 1300 mayact as a peer machine in peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed)network environment. The machine 1300 may take the form of a personalcomputer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a smart phone, a web appliance, anetwork router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executinginstructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be takenby that machine. Machine 1300 may be configured to implement the RFfront-end devices, digital processing computing devices, andtransceivers of FIGS. 1-11 . Additionally, the machine 1300 is shownwith certain components, however, one of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate that additional or fewer components may be included in aparticular example of machine 1300. For example, if the machine 1300 isconfigured as an RF front-end, additional radio hardware may be includedand components such as a U/I navigation device 1314, video display 1310,alpha-numeric input device 1312 may not be included. Further, while onlya single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also be takento include any collection of machines that individually or jointlyexecute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one ormore of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloud computing,software as a service (SaaS), other computer cluster configurations.Machine 1300 may be configured to implement one or more of the methodsor systems of FIG. 5-11 .

Examples, as described herein, may include, or may operate on, logic ora number of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangibleentities (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operations andmay be configured or arranged in a certain manner. In an example,circuits may be arranged (e.g., internally or with respect to externalentities such as other circuits) in a specified manner as a module. Inan example, the whole or part of one or more computer systems (e.g., astandalone, client or server computer system) or one or more hardwareprocessors may be configured by firmware or software (e.g.,instructions, an application portion, or an application) as a modulethat operates to perform specified operations. In an example, thesoftware may reside on a machine readable medium. In an example, thesoftware, when executed by the underlying hardware of the module, causesthe hardware to perform the specified operations.

Accordingly, the term “module” is understood to encompass a tangibleentity, be that an entity that is physically constructed, specificallyconfigured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily (e.g., transitorily)configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a specified manner or toperform part or all of any operation described herein. Consideringexamples in which modules are temporarily configured, each of themodules need not be instantiated at any one moment in time. For example,where the modules comprise a general-purpose hardware processorconfigured using software, the general-purpose hardware processor may beconfigured as respective different modules at different times. Softwaremay accordingly configure a hardware processor, for example, toconstitute a particular module at one instance of time and to constitutea different module at a different instance of time.

Machine (e.g., computer system) 1300 may include a hardware processor1302 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit(GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a mainmemory 1304 and a static memory 1306, some or all of which maycommunicate with each other via an interlink (e.g., bus) 1308. Themachine 1300 may further include a display unit 1310, an alphanumericinput device 1312 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI)navigation device 1314 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, the display unit1310, input device 1312 and UI navigation device 1314 may be a touchscreen display. The machine 1300 may additionally include a storagedevice (e.g., drive unit) 1316, a signal generation device 1318 (e.g., aspeaker), a network interface device 1320, and one or more sensors 1321,such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, compass,accelerometer, or other sensor. The machine 1300 may include an outputcontroller 1328, such as a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB),parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near fieldcommunication (NFC), etc.) connection to communicate or control one ormore peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, card reader, etc.).

The storage device 1316 may include a machine readable medium 1322 onwhich is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 1324(e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of thetechniques or functions described herein. The instructions 1324 may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 1304,within static memory 1306, or within the hardware processor 1302 duringexecution thereof by the machine 1300. In an example, one or anycombination of the hardware processor 1302, the main memory 1304, thestatic memory 1306, or the storage device 1316 may constitute machinereadable media.

While the machine readable medium 1322 is illustrated as a singlemedium, the term “machine readable medium” may include a single mediumor multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/orassociated caches and servers) configured to store the one or moreinstructions 1324.

The term “machine readable medium” may include any medium that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution bythe machine 1300 and that cause the machine 1300 to perform any one ormore of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable ofstoring, encoding or carrying data structures used by or associated withsuch instructions. Non-limiting machine readable medium examples mayinclude solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media. Specificexamples of machine readable media may include: non-volatile memory,such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., Electrically ProgrammableRead-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-OnlyMemory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such asinternal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; RandomAccess Memory (RAM); Solid State Drives (SSD); and CD-ROM and DVD-ROMdisks. In some examples, machine readable media may includenon-transitory machine readable media. In some examples, machinereadable media may include machine readable media that is not atransitory propagating signal.

The instructions 1324 may further be transmitted or received over acommunications network 1326 using a transmission medium via the networkinterface device 1320. The Machine 1300 may communicate with one or moreother machines utilizing any one of a number of transfer protocols(e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP), transmission controlprotocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transferprotocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communication networks may include alocal area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet datanetwork (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellularnetworks), Plain Old Telephone (POTS) networks, and wireless datanetworks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)802.11 family of standards known as Wi-Fi®, IEEE 802.16 family ofstandards known as WiMax®), IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards, a LongTerm Evolution (LTE) family of standards, a Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS) family of standards, peer-to-peer (P2P)networks, among others. In an example, the network interface device 1320may include one or more physical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, orphone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect to the communicationsnetwork 1326. In an example, the network interface device 1320 mayinclude a plurality of antennas to wirelessly communicate using at leastone of single-input multiple-output (SIMO), multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO), or multiple-input single-output (MISO)techniques. In some examples, the network interface device 1320 maywirelessly communicate using Multiple User MIMO techniques.

Other Notes and Examples

Example 1 is a method for prioritizing packets for a network-basedsoftware defined radio system, the method comprising: at a computingdevice, using one or more processors: receiving an output of ananalog-to-digital converter (ADC), the output comprising a plurality ofdigital samples of a radio frequency (RF) signal, each digital samplerepresenting the RF signal at a different time and comprising aplurality of bits including a most significant bit and a second bit thatis less significant than the most significant bit; creating a firstpacket comprising a value of the most significant bit of a first digitalsample of the plurality of digital samples and a value of the mostsignificant bit of a second digital sample of the plurality of digitalsamples; creating a second packet comprising a value of the second bitof the first digital sample and a value of the second bit of the seconddigital sample; determining a metric of a network connection between thecomputing device and a server computing device, the server computingdevice providing baseband processing for the network-based softwaredefined radio system; determining whether the metric of the networkconnection between the computing device and the server computing deviceindicates a quality of service (QoS) of the network connection that isbelow a threshold; and responsive to determining that the metric of thenetwork connection between the computing device and the server computingdevice indicates the QoS of the network connection is below thethreshold, sending the first packet to the server computing device overthe network connection and not sending the second packet to the servercomputing device.

In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 includes, receivingmetadata from a transmitter computing device or the server computingdevice indicating a type of data being transmitted by the transmitterand received in the RF signal; assigning, based upon the metadata, apriority to the first packet; and setting a priority field of a headerof the first packet to the priority.

In Example 3, the subject matter of Example 2 includes, wherein the typeof data comprises audio, video, or signaling data.

In Example 4, the subject matter of Example 3 includes, whereinassigning the priority to the first packet comprises assigning signalingdata to a higher priority than audio or video data and audio data to ahigher priority than video data.

In Example 5, the subject matter of Examples 2-4 includes, wherein thepriority field of the header is a Quality of Service parameter.

In Example 6, the subject matter of Examples 1-5 includes, wherein themetric indicates one or more of: congestion, low bandwidth, packet loss,interference, or packet error.

In Example 7, the subject matter of Examples 1-6 includes, wherein themethod further comprises: responsive to determining that the metric ofthe network connection between the computing device and the servercomputing device indicates the QoS of the network connection is belowthe threshold, sending the first packet twice.

In Example 8, the subject matter of Examples 1-7 includes, determining afirst type of data being transmitted by a transmitter for a third packetand a second type of data being transmitted by the transmitter for afourth packets created from the plurality of digital samples, the firsttype of data and the second type of data being different types;assigning, based upon the first type of data, a first priority to thethird packet; assigning, based upon the second type of data, a secondpriority to the fourth packet, the second priority greater than thefirst priority; and responsive to determining that the metric of thenetwork connection between the computing device and the server computingdevice indicates the QoS of the network connection is below thethreshold, sending the third packet to the server computing device overthe network connection and discarding the fourth packet without sendingthe fourth packet to the server computing device.

Example 9 is a computing device for prioritizing packets for anetwork-based software defined radio system, the computing devicecomprising: one or more processors; a memory, the memory comprisinginstructions, which when executed, cause the one or more processors toperform operations comprising: receiving an output of ananalog-to-digital converter (ADC), the output comprising a plurality ofdigital samples of a radio frequency (RF) signal, each digital samplerepresenting the RF signal at a different time and comprising aplurality of bits including a most significant bit and a second bit thatis less significant than the most significant bit; creating a firstpacket comprising a value of the most significant bit of a first digitalsample of the plurality of digital samples and a value of the mostsignificant bit of a second digital sample of the plurality of digitalsamples; creating a second packet comprising a value of the second bitof the first digital sample and a value of the second bit of the seconddigital sample; determining a metric of a network connection between thecomputing device and a server computing device, the server computingdevice providing baseband processing for the network-based softwaredefined radio system; determining whether the metric of the networkconnection between the computing device and the server computing deviceindicates a quality of service (QoS) of the network connection that isbelow a threshold; and responsive to determining that the metric of thenetwork connection between the computing device and the server computingdevice indicates the QoS of the network connection is below thethreshold, sending the first packet to the server computing device overthe network connection and not sending the second packet to the servercomputing device.

In Example 10, the subject matter of Example 9 includes, wherein theoperations further comprise: receiving metadata from a transmittercomputing device or the server computing device indicating a type ofdata being transmitted by the transmitter and received in the RF signal;assigning, based upon the metadata, a priority to the first packet; andsetting a priority field of a header of the first packet to thepriority.

In Example 11, the subject matter of Example 10 includes, wherein thetype of data comprises audio, video, or signaling data.

In Example 12, the subject matter of Example 11 includes, wherein theoperations of assigning the priority to the first packet comprisesassigning signaling data to a higher priority than audio or video dataand audio data to a higher priority than video data.

In Example 13, the subject matter of Examples 10-12 includes, whereinthe priority field of the header is a Quality of Service parameter.

In Example 14, the subject matter of Examples 9-13 includes, wherein themetric indicates one or more of: congestion, low bandwidth, packet loss,interference, or packet error.

In Example 15, the subject matter of Examples 9-14 includes, wherein theoperations further comprise: responsive to determining that the metricof the network connection between the computing device and the servercomputing device indicates the QoS of the network connection is belowthe threshold, sending the first packet twice.

In Example 16, the subject matter of Examples 9-15 includes, wherein theoperations further comprise: determining a first type of data beingtransmitted by a transmitter for a third packet and a second type ofdata being transmitted by the transmitter for a fourth packets createdfrom the plurality of digital samples, the first type of data and thesecond type of data being different types; assigning, based upon thefirst type of data, a first priority to the third packet; assigning,based upon the second type of data, a second priority to the fourthpacket, the second priority greater than the first priority; andresponsive to determining that the metric of the network connectionbetween the computing device and the server computing device indicatesthe QoS of the network connection is below the threshold, sending thethird packet to the server computing device over the network connectionand discarding the fourth packet without sending the fourth packet tothe server computing device.

Example 17 is a machine-readable medium for prioritizing packets for anetwork-based software defined radio system, the machine-readable mediumstoring instructions, which when executed by a computing device, causethe computing device to perform operations comprising: receiving anoutput of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), the output comprising aplurality of digital samples of a radio frequency (RF) signal, eachdigital sample representing the RF signal at a different time andcomprising a plurality of bits including a most significant bit and asecond bit that is less significant than the most significant bit;creating a first packet comprising a value of the most significant bitof a first digital sample of the plurality of digital samples and avalue of the most significant bit of a second digital sample of theplurality of digital samples; creating a second packet comprising avalue of the second bit of the first digital sample and a value of thesecond bit of the second digital sample; determining a metric of anetwork connection between the computing device and a server computingdevice, the server computing device providing baseband processing forthe network-based software defined radio system; determining whether themetric of the network connection between the computing device and theserver computing device indicates a quality of service (QoS) of thenetwork connection that is below a threshold; and responsive todetermining that the metric of the network connection between thecomputing device and the server computing device indicates the QoS ofthe network connection is below the threshold, sending the first packetto the server computing device over the network connection and notsending the second packet to the server computing device.

In Example 18, the subject matter of Example 17 includes, wherein theoperations further comprise: receiving metadata from a transmittercomputing device or the server computing device indicating a type ofdata being transmitted by the transmitter and received in the RF signal;assigning, based upon the metadata, a priority to the first packet; andsetting a priority field of a header of the first packet to thepriority.

In Example 19, the subject matter of Example 18 includes, wherein thetype of data comprises audio, video, or signaling data.

In Example 20, the subject matter of Example 19 includes, wherein theoperations of assigning the priority to the first packet comprisesassigning signaling data to a higher priority than audio or video dataand audio data to a higher priority than video data.

In Example 21, the subject matter of Examples 18-20 includes, whereinthe priority field of the header is a Quality of Service parameter.

In Example 22, the subject matter of Examples 17-21 includes, whereinthe metric indicates one or more of: congestion, low bandwidth, packetloss, interference, or packet error.

In Example 23, the subject matter of Examples 17-22 includes, whereinthe operations further comprise: responsive to determining that themetric of the network connection between the computing device and theserver computing device indicates the QoS of the network connection isbelow the threshold, sending the first packet twice.

In Example 24, the subject matter of Examples 17-23 includes, whereinthe operations further comprise: determining a first type of data beingtransmitted by a transmitter for a third packet and a second type ofdata being transmitted by the transmitter for a fourth packets createdfrom the plurality of digital samples, the first type of data and thesecond type of data being different types; assigning, based upon thefirst type of data, a first priority to the third packet; assigning,based upon the second type of data, a second priority to the fourthpacket, the second priority greater than the first priority; andresponsive to determining that the metric of the network connectionbetween the computing device and the server computing device indicatesthe QoS of the network connection is below the threshold, sending thethird packet to the server computing device over the network connectionand discarding the fourth packet without sending the fourth packet tothe server computing device.

Example 25 is a computing device for prioritizing packets for anetwork-based software defined radio system, the computing devicecomprising: means for receiving an output of an analog-to-digitalconverter (ADC), the output comprising a plurality of digital samples ofa radio frequency (RF) signal, each digital sample representing the RFsignal at a different time and comprising a plurality of bits includinga most significant bit and a second bit that is less significant thanthe most significant bit; means for creating a first packet comprising avalue of the most significant bit of a first digital sample of theplurality of digital samples and a value of the most significant bit ofa second digital sample of the plurality of digital samples; means forcreating a second packet comprising a value of the second bit of thefirst digital sample and a value of the second bit of the second digitalsample; means for determining a metric of a network connection betweenthe computing device and a server computing device, the server computingdevice providing baseband processing for the network-based softwaredefined radio system; means for determining whether the metric of thenetwork connection between the computing device and the server computingdevice indicates a quality of service (QoS) of the network connectionthat is below a threshold; and means for responsive to determining thatthe metric of the network connection between the computing device andthe server computing device indicates the QoS of the network connectionis below the threshold, sending the first packet to the server computingdevice over the network connection and not sending the second packet tothe server computing device.

In Example 26, the subject matter of Example 25 includes, means forreceiving metadata from a transmitter computing device or the servercomputing device indicating a type of data being transmitted by thetransmitter and received in the RF signal; means for assigning, basedupon the metadata, a priority to the first packet; and means for settinga priority field of a header of the first packet to the priority.

In Example 27, the subject matter of Example 26 includes, wherein thetype of data comprises audio, video, or signaling data.

In Example 28, the subject matter of Example 27 includes, wherein themeans for assigning the priority to the first packet comprises means forassigning signaling data to a higher priority than audio or video dataand audio data to a higher priority than video data.

In Example 29, the subject matter of Examples 26-28 includes, whereinthe priority field of the header is a Quality of Service parameter.

In Example 30, the subject matter of Examples 25-29 includes, whereinthe metric indicates one or more of: congestion, low bandwidth, packetloss, interference, or packet error.

In Example 31, the subject matter of Examples 25-30 includes, whereinthe computing device further comprises: means for, responsive todetermining that the metric of the network connection between thecomputing device and the server computing device indicates the QoS ofthe network connection is below the threshold, sending the first packettwice.

In Example 32, the subject matter of Examples 25-31 includes, means fordetermining a first type of data being transmitted by a transmitter fora third packet and a second type of data being transmitted by thetransmitter for a fourth packets created from the plurality of digitalsamples, the first type of data and the second type of data beingdifferent types; means for assigning, based upon the first type of data,a first priority to the third packet; means for assigning, based uponthe second type of data, a second priority to the fourth packet, thesecond priority greater than the first priority; and means for,responsive to determining that the metric of the network connectionbetween the computing device and the server computing device indicatesthe QoS of the network connection is below the threshold, sending thethird packet to the server computing device over the means for networkconnection and discarding the fourth packet without sending the fourthpacket to the server computing device.

Example 33 is at least one machine-readable medium includinginstructions that, when executed by processing circuitry, cause theprocessing circuitry to perform operations to implement of any ofExamples 1-32.

Example 34 is an apparatus comprising means to implement of any ofExamples 1-32.

Example 35 is a system to implement of any of Examples 1-32.

Example 36 is a method to implement of any of Examples 1-32.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for prioritizing data packets, themethod comprising: at a computing device, using one or more processors:receiving a plurality of digital samples of a radio frequency (RF)signal, each digital sample representing the RF signal at a differenttime and comprising a plurality of bits including a most significant bitand a second bit that is less significant than the most significant bit;creating a first packet comprising a value of the most significant bitof a first digital sample of the plurality of digital samples and avalue of the most significant bit of a second digital sample of theplurality of digital samples; creating a second packet comprising avalue of the second bit of the first digital sample and a value of thesecond bit of the second digital sample, the second bit of the firstdigital sample of lesser significance than the most significant bit andthe second bit of the second digital sample of lesser significance thanthe most significant bit of the second digital sample; and prioritizingthe first packet over the second packet for transmission to a servercomputing device over a packet-based network.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving metadata from a transmitter computingdevice or the server computing device indicating a type of data beingtransmitted by the transmitter in the RF signal for the plurality ofdigital samples; wherein prioritizing the first packet over the secondpacket for transmission to the server computing device over thepacket-based network comprises: assigning, based upon the metadata, afirst priority to the first packet; assigning, based upon the metadata,a second priority to the second packet, the second priority a lesserpriority than the first priority; setting a priority field of a headerof the first packet to the first priority; and setting a priority fieldof a second header of the second packet to the second priority, thefirst priority higher than the second priority.
 3. The method of claim2, wherein the type of data comprises audio, video, or signaling data.4. The method of claim 3, wherein assigning the first priority to thefirst packet comprises assigning signaling data to a higher prioritythan audio or video data and audio data to a higher priority than videodata.
 5. The method of claim 2, wherein the priority field of the headeris a Quality-of-Service parameter.
 6. The method of claim 1, whereinprioritizing the first packet over the second packet to send to theserver computing device over the packet-based network comprises:determining a metric of the packet-based network; determining whetherthe metric indicates a quality-of-service (QoS) of the packet-basednetwork is below a threshold; and responsive to determining that themetric indicates the quality-of-service (QoS) of the packet-basednetwork is below the threshold, sending the first packet twice.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein prioritizing the first packet over the secondpacket to send to the server computing device over the packet-basednetwork comprises: determining a metric of the packet-based network;determining whether the metric indicates a quality-of-service (QoS) ofthe packet-based network is below a threshold; and responsive todetermining that the metric indicates the quality-of-service (QoS) ofthe packet-based network is below the threshold, sending the firstpacket and discarding or delaying the second packet.
 8. A computingdevice for prioritizing packets for a network-based software definedradio system, the computing device comprising: one or more processors; amemory, the memory comprising instructions, which when executed, causethe one or more processors to perform operations comprising: receiving aplurality of digital samples of a radio frequency (RF) signal, eachdigital sample representing the RF signal at a different time andcomprising a plurality of bits including a most significant bit and asecond bit that is less significant than the most significant bit;creating a first packet comprising a value of the most significant bitof a first digital sample of the plurality of digital samples and avalue of the most significant bit of a second digital sample of theplurality of digital samples; creating a second packet comprising avalue of the second bit of the first digital sample and a value of thesecond bit of the second digital sample, the second bit of the firstdigital sample of lesser significance than the most significant bit andthe second bit of the second digital sample of lesser significance thanthe most significant bit of the second digital sample; and prioritizingthe first packet over the second packet for transmission to a servercomputing device over a packet-based network.
 9. The computing device ofclaim 8, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving metadatafrom a transmitter computing device or the server computing deviceindicating a type of data being transmitted by the transmitter in the RFsignal for the plurality of digital samples; wherein the operations ofprioritizing the first packet over the second packet for transmission tothe server computing device over the packet-based network comprises:assigning, based upon the metadata, a first priority to the firstpacket; assigning, based upon the metadata, a second priority to thesecond packet, the second priority a lesser priority than the firstpriority; setting a priority field of a header of the first packet tothe first priority; and setting a priority field of a second header ofthe second packet to the second priority, the first priority higher thanthe second priority.
 10. The computing device of claim 9, wherein thetype of data comprises audio, video, or signaling data.
 11. Thecomputing device of claim 10, wherein the operations of assigning thefirst priority to the first packet comprises assigning signaling data toa higher priority than audio or video data and audio data to a higherpriority than video data.
 12. The computing device of claim 9, whereinthe priority field of the header is a Quality-of-Service parameter. 13.The computing device of claim 8, wherein the operations of prioritizingthe first packet over the second packet to send to the server computingdevice over the packet-based network comprises: determining a metric ofthe packet-based network; determining whether the metric indicates aquality-of-service (QoS) of the packet-based network is below athreshold; and responsive to determining that the metric indicates thequality-of-service (QoS) of the packet-based network is below thethreshold, sending the first packet twice.
 14. The computing device ofclaim 8, wherein the operations of prioritizing the first packet overthe second packet to send to the server computing device over thepacket-based network comprises: determining a metric of the packet-basednetwork; determining whether the metric indicates a quality-of-service(QoS) of the packet-based network is below a threshold; and responsiveto determining that the metric indicates the quality-of-service (QoS) ofthe packet-based network is below the threshold, sending the firstpacket and discarding or delaying the second packet.
 15. A computingdevice for prioritizing packets for a network-based software definedradio system, the computing device comprising: means for receiving aplurality of digital samples of a radio frequency (RF) signal, eachdigital sample representing the RF signal at a different time andcomprising a plurality of bits including a most significant bit and asecond bit that is less significant than the most significant bit; meansfor creating a first packet comprising a value of the most significantbit of a first digital sample of the plurality of digital samples and avalue of the most significant bit of a second digital sample of theplurality of digital samples; means for creating a second packetcomprising a value of the second bit of the first digital sample and avalue of the second bit of the second digital sample, the second bit ofthe first digital sample of lesser significance than the mostsignificant bit and the second bit of the second digital sample oflesser significance than the most significant bit of the second digitalsample; and means for prioritizing the first packet over the secondpacket for transmission to a server computing device over a packet-basednetwork.
 16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the devicefurther comprises: means for receiving metadata from a transmittercomputing device or the server computing device indicating a type ofdata being transmitted by the transmitter in the RF signal for theplurality of digital samples; wherein the means for prioritizing thefirst packet over the second packet for transmission to the servercomputing device over the packet-based network comprises: means forassigning, based upon the metadata, a first priority to the firstpacket; means for assigning, based upon the metadata, a second priorityto the second packet, the second priority a lesser priority than thefirst priority; means for setting a priority field of a header of thefirst packet to the first priority; and means for setting a priorityfield of a second header of the second packet to the second priority,the first priority higher than the second priority.
 17. The computingdevice of claim 16, wherein the type of data comprises audio, video, orsignaling data.
 18. The computing device of claim 17, wherein the meansfor assigning the first priority to the first packet comprises means forassigning signaling data to a higher priority than audio or video dataand audio data to a higher priority than video data.
 19. The computingdevice of claim 16, wherein the priority field of the header is aQuality-of-Service parameter.
 20. The computing device of claim 15,wherein the operations of prioritizing the first packet over the secondpacket to send to the server computing device over the packet-basednetwork comprises: determining a metric of the packet-based network;determining whether the metric indicates a quality-of-service (QoS) ofthe packet-based network is below a threshold; and responsive todetermining that the metric indicates the quality-of-service (QoS) ofthe packet-based network is below the threshold, sending the firstpacket twice.